Solving School Crowding

Our Towns

New Britain

November 10, 2004

In the fractious world that is New Britain politics, communication can be the first casualty. But enhancing the quality of education for city students is too important and pressing a matter to be allowed to get lost in the din.

That's why Mayor Timothy Stewart showed good leadership recently by convening a special task force charged with recommending solutions to crowding in the city's schools. The group -- made up of five members of the school board, four council members, Mr. Stewart, School Superintendent Doris Kurtz, finance board Chairman Lou Salvio and Thomas Reale, principal of New Britain High School -- met for the first time Oct. 20.

Since the mayor took office a year ago, relations between Mr. Stewart and the school board have had their ups and downs. During a forum on education a month after his election, Mr. Stewart, who was in the audience, was publicly recognized by a school official as a ``real friend of education.''

Six months later, on the heels of his first experience putting together a budget as mayor, Mr. Stewart fired off a letter threatening to sue the school board if it pursued a plan for a five-year lease of the former Burritt Bank building at 277 Main St. to relieve crowding at the high school.

Appropriately, the high school, whose enrollment of 3,200 students is among the largest in the state, is high on the panel's agenda. The school board is leaning toward building a $13 million addition for the city's ninth-graders as the least expensive option.

Ms. Kurtz, however, opposes the addition from an educational standpoint. The task force will also consider whether to renovate the former Israel Putnam School or the St. Thomas Aquinas High School building.

The makeup of this task force engenders hope that the resulting recommendations will be financially and educationally sound.